DA Daily

The Sweetwater County School District 1 board of trustees on Wednesday selected a Colorado educator as the district's next superintendent. Mathew Neal, the director of innovation strategy and operations for Denver Public Schools, was chosen from a field of four candidates, according to a district media release.

The current superintendent of the Saraland City School System will serve as the Alabaster school superintendent beginning on July 1. Dr. Wayne Vickers was chosen out of a pool of 16 candidates who applied for the position in March, and will replace current Interim Superintendent Dr. Phillip Hammonds.

Dallas is facing “a moment of truth” over its public school system and must choose reform over stagnation, Mayor Mike Rawlings said Wednesday in a signal of his support for embattled Dallas school Superintendent Mike Miles. The mayor made it clear that he believes Miles must be given the latitude to implement changes intended to improve Dallas schools, even if the superintendent’s efforts frustrate some city leaders, particularly in the black community.

Pinellas County Schools officials hope to shave about $6.5 million off their budget by retooling special education programs. Closing the K12 Hamilton Disston School in Gulfport and moving the students to other schools is expected to save $1.8 million, while other special education staffing changes are expected to save an additional $4.7 million.

The Louisiana state Senate Education Committee rejected a move to repeal the state's Science Education Act on Wednesday, handing a defeat to opponents who have criticized the law for essentially allowing the teaching of creationism in science class.

On Wednesday, Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, seemed happy to defer the spotlight to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as the pair chatted on stage at the NewSchools Summit in partnership with The Aspen Institute in Burlingame, Calif. Powell Jobs turned from interview subject to inquisitor as she quizzed Duncan on improving the nation’s education system.

Project Frog built a school in a warehouse. Or at least, part of a school. The “componentized” building company — Frog management dislikes the terms “prefab” and “modular” — put up a life-size model of one classroom, a hall, and a couple other rooms in their warehouse on a San Francisco pier.

A group of high school students has been suspended from Scripps Ranch High School and may not be able to attend prom or walk during commencement ceremonies because of a video made at school that depicts “twerking,” a suggestive manner of dancing.

Teachers attending a meeting at a small school in rural Oregon last Friday were shocked when two masked men wearing hoodies burst into the conference room and pretended to open fire. The surprise shooting drill at Pine Eagle Charter School in Halfway was designed to test the school's preparation for an assault by "active shooters," The Oregonian reported.